Mercedes star Andrea Kimi Antonelli “definitely” shares Ferrari rival Lewis Hamilton’s desire to fight for the 2027 F1 drivers’ championship, as he still has something to prove despite winning the 2026 title.

Antonelli made history this year by becoming the youngest-ever F1 drivers’ champion at only 20 years old. The Bologna boy is also just the third Italian to ever win the F1 title, having ended his nation’s lengthy wait for another champion stretching back to Giuseppe Farina (in 1950) and Alberto Ascari (in 1952 and 1953).

Kimi Antonelli wants to prove himself in an F1 title fight against Lewis Hamilton’s ‘calibre’

As well as becoming the youngest-ever champion, this season has seen Antonelli also become the youngest to score a Grand Prix pole, to win a Grand Prix from pole, to achieve a hat-trick, to win consecutive races, to achieve a Grand Slam and to win a Sprint. Antonelli also set the record for consecutive wins from a first win.

Yet Antonelli still thinks he has something to prove by fighting drivers of the “calibre” of Hamilton for a title, so hopes to do so in 2027. Ferrari ace Hamilton and Mercedes teammate George Russell briefly presented a challenge to Antonelli for the 2026 F1 title, but neither Briton proved able to seriously threaten the Italian.

“Definitely,” Antonelli said, via Sky Sports Italy, about sharing Hamilton’s desire for a 2027 title fight. “The end of the season can already give us an idea of ​​what next year could be. It would be a great challenge for me to find myself having to fight every Grand Prix with drivers of that calibre. I cannot wait to finish this season well and look forward to 2027.”

Antonelli’s early dominance with five consecutive wins in China, Japan, Miami, Canada and Monaco from round two to six put him in a commanding position to go on and win the 2026 title with rounds to spare.

It briefly seemed after Antonelli’s retirement from P2 when Hamilton won in Barcelona and his front left wheel shield breaking while running P2 at Silverstone when Charles Leclerc won the British Grand Prix like Ferrari could mount a comeback. Yet the Scuderia could not maintain their threat to Antonelli thereafter.

Instead, McLaren briefly enjoyed some success when their upgrades helped Lando Norris win in Hungary and the Netherlands. Norris should have also won the Spanish Grand Prix, but the timing of the virtual safety car helped Antonelli win at the Madring, before Red Bull then emerged as Mercedes’ main rival.

Max Verstappen scored wins in Malaysia and Singapore and later in Mexico City for Red Bull, before Norris benefitted from Antonelli’s spin from the lead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. All four front-running teams will now hope to enjoy more sustained success in 2027, when F1’s tweaks to the rules could also be decisive.

Formula 1 is tweaking the engine regulations next year to abandon the near 50/50 split between internal combustion and electrical power introduced in 2026. F1 engines will instead boast a 58/42 split favouring the ICE in 2027, before moving to a 60/40 split in 2028, and Ferrari think their 2027 engine will gain 22hp.